Throttle-controller.



PATENTED MAR. 3, 1908.

O. THUM.

THROTTLE CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21. 1907.

2 SHEETS-81mm 1.

PATENTED MAR. 8, 1908. O. THUM.

THROTTLE CONTROLLER.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, 1907.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

3140c 1 v coz g. p rJENT WWJICE.

OTTO THUM, OF GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN.

'1 not: OTTLE-CONTROLLER.

No. 881,088. I Specification of Letters Patent. Patented March 3, 1908.

Original application filed may 14, 1906, Serial No. 316,700. Divided andthis application filed June 21,

Serial No.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, OT'ro Tenn, a citizen of the United States ofAmerica, residing at Grand Rapids, in the county of Kent and State ofMichigan, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Throttle-Controllers; and I do hereby declare the followin to be a full, clear,and exact dcscription 0 the invention, such as will enable othl ersskilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. v aMy invention relates to improvements in throttle controllers, and moreparticularly to controllers for the throttles of internal com- 1 bustionengines used for propelling automobiles such as shown in my co-pendingapplii cation filed May 14th 1906 Serial No. 316700 l of which this is adivision. Fine and accurate adjustment of such throttles, especially lwhen they are nearly closed, is very desirl able. After they are aboutone-third open, 1 this is not so material. With the usual l pedaloperated throttle, this line and accurate ad ustment is very difficult,and often requires repeated attempts, whereby the changes are not quickor accurate enough to meet the conditions of automobile operation. it isalso usual to provide means 1 whereby when the brake is applied, thethroti tle automatically closes to a pre-determined 1 minimum. in goingup rade or over a. heavy road, this 0 ening s liould be greater than ona good or evel road, otherwise the e' ineis likely to be stalled.

Jlhe object of In invention is to'provide a device whereby t e throttlemay be accurately and readily controlled during the earlier stages ofits opening; to provide a variable minimum opening of the throttle; toprovide means for manually controlling the throttle, auxiliary to thepedal mechanism for such purpose and independently operative; and toprovide the device with various new and useful features, hereinaftermore fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims.

My device consists essentially of, in addition to the pedal operatedmechanism of an automobile as usually constructed, manually l o )erateddevices mounted near the steering i w eel and adapted to accurately andminutely adjust the send throttle independent of the i pedal operatedmechanism and also arranged l in such manner that either the pedal orthe i manual device may be used at pleasure, also so that the manualdevice will operate as an adjustable stop for the pedal mechanism,

. 3. an elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1.;

Fig. 4. a plan View of the parts shown in Fig.

2.; log. 5. a rearelevation ofthe same; Big. 6. a detail in section onthe line 6'0 of Fig.

i 1., looking to the left; Fig. 7. the same on the line 77 of Fig. 1.,looking to the right; Fig. 8. the same onthe line S8 of Fig. 1.; andFig. 9. an enlarged transverse section taken on the line 99 of Fig. t.

Like numbers referto like parts in all of the figures.

1 represents any convenient throttle valve adapted to control aninternal coinbus tion engine; 2 a lever to adjust the said valve; 3 arod a tached to the lever to operate the same; 4 a link on the end ofthe rod; 5 a leverpivotally connected to the link and having a slidingconnection therewith; 6 a contractile spring connected to the rod 3 atone end and to the lever 5 at the other end, whereby the lever isyieldingly held in connection with the forward end of the link.

'7 is a rock shaft on the lower end of which the lever 5 is fixed 8 is alever to operate the rock shaft, which lever is'connected to a pedallever 11 mounted on a shaft 10 and connected to the lever 8 by a rod 0.

12 is a rack fixed on the rock shaft 7 and held b a pawl 13, whereby thethrottle valve is held more or less open after the pedal ll has beendepressed to adjust the valve.

14 is an extension of the pawl 13, which extension is engaged by a pushrod 15 to release the pawl and permit the throttle valve to closewhenever the brake pedal i6 is depressed. The brake pedal for thispurpose is provided with a rod 17 to connect the same to the brake andalso having the rod 15 attached thereto. To the brake )edal 10 is alsoconnected the emergency lirake commonlv used, by means of a rod 25having a Einh in the end, whereby the pedal it) may be independentlydepressed, and said pedal also operated whenever the emergency brakeminimum opening of the throttle. Thus.

when the brake is applied, the throttle is automatically nearly closedand admits an amount of combustible only suflicient to keep the enginerunning under ordinary conditions.

So far the device described is substantially old except as to the link4, and the sliding connection therewith of the lever 5, which is for theurpose of permitting the manually o crate mechanism to be usedindependent 0 the pedal mechanism. The manually operated means forcontrolling the throttle is also provided with a sliding connectionwiththe rod 3, andis preferabl constructed as follows: A pin 18 is insertein the rod 3, which pin forms a stop engaged by a forked lever 19mounted on a rock shaft 20, and slidabl'e on the rod 3. Said rookshaftis provided with'a lever 21 fixed on the same and connected by arod 22 to a bell crank lever 23 mounted on the shaft 10, between thepedals l1 and i6. Extending'from the lever 23 upward and parallel withthe steering post 26 is a rod 24, the upper end of which rod is'attached.to a manually operated leve'r'29 pivoted to a bracket 28 mounted ontheupper end of the post 26. Opposite the lever 29 is another lever 29 andthese two levers diverge at their movable ends and are connected by asegment 30 adapted to be manually -depressed by the hand of the operatorapplied to the steering wheel 27. This segment is of suficient extentconcentric with therim ot the wheel 27 that it can be convenientlyoperated without shifting the hand upon said wheel. Whenever the lever29 is depressed, it will by means of the described connections open thevalve 1 without afiecting the pedal operated mechanism, being retardedthereby, the connectionoi the lever 5 sliding toward the rear of thelink 4 and leaving the pedal mechanism unmoved and practicallydisconnected therefrom. The pin 18 will also move. away1 from the forkedend of the lever 19 when t e pedal mechanism is operated,withoutafi'ecting the manual device. This manually operated device beingintended for delicate adjustment is thus unineumbered by anything elsewhen operated. This link connection also prevents shocks on the manualdevice when the pedal mechanism is released. To hold the valve open whenmanual! adjusted, a finel divided ratchet 35 (see lig. 5.) is providewhich ratchet is engaged by a pawl 36 on the lever 29 and thus holds thelever depressed until the canoes awl is released. To release this pawl,9. ever .31 is ivoted between the levers 29 and provided arm 37, whichengages and releases the paw 36. To depress the lever 31, a segment 32is mounted on the same, arranged near the segment 30 and concentrictherewith. To distinguish these segments 30 and 32 and prevent mistake,one se ent (preferably 30) is made convex and t a other segment is madeconcave. A spring- 33 yieldingly su ports the lovers 29, and a siplring34 yielding y supports the lovers 31. us when released these leversnormally rise to their elevated position.

38 re resents the usual lever for adjusting I the lea of the spark inthe engine.

From the foregoing description of the device, and its mode of operation,it will be observed that when both the pedal andmanually o erated meansfor openingthe throttle.

are re eased, the throttle will-automaticall assume its nearly closedposition (which is determined .by adjusting the screw 14) to supply onlysufficient fuel to keep the engine in motion.-

- 'By'opening the throttle by. the manually operated'devlce, it can beopened on a finer adjustment than can be conveniently done by the pedalmechanism and such adjustment can also be used as the minimum stop inplace of the screw it if so desired, whereby the throttle will not beclosed to so great a1;M extent as the screw is adjusted for, and Wmapual device is adjusted. pedal with-a downwardly projecti close moreor .less accordi lnlg as the mechanism is operated to open the throttle-more widely for high duty, such as bad roads, up-grades, or fast runninand the throttle 1s automatically dropped ack to the manually adjustedopening at any time that the brake may be applied, or the manualadjustment wholly released and the throttle closed down to the screwadjustment. It will be noted that the lever 5 r1 idly enga es the end ofthe link i and the lever 19 l' ewise enga es the pin 18 whereb aos'itive' i d and opening 0 the throttle is secure a positwo etc for thethrottle is provided by the pedal w en the pedal mechanism is releasedthus insuring prompt andaccurate operation. in the event 0 approaching acrowded thoroughfare orany lace where slow movement and accuratec osethrottling is desirable, themannally operated mechanism becomesavailable at any time, and is much more convenient and reliable than thepedal operated device alone.

By the described devices, I am able to use the manual control alone, orthe pedal control alone, or the manual device as an ad justable andrigid minimum stop 7 for the pedal controhor to instantly shift from oneto the other and also to o erete the manual.

device with thesanie hen that operates the mg Wheel may all steeringwheel; a lever steering wheel thus leaving the other hand of theoperator free for the emergency brake, spark ad'uster or other uses.

What claim is:

1. In an automobile, the combination of a below the steering wheel and.near the same, a pawl and ratchet to hold the leveryand a second leverto release the pawl and also located near the steering wheel, wherebythe levers and steerf be controlled by onehand of the operator.

2. In an automobile, a steering post, a steering wheel on the post, alever pivoted to a bracket attached to the post, a segment on the leverand concentric with the wheel, a

ratchet on the bracket, a pawl on the levers p and engaging the ratchet,a second lever to release the pawl and a second segment on saidreleasing lever and arranged near the first named segment.

3. In -an automobile, a steering wheel, a lever below the steeringwheel, a segment on the lever and near the rim of the wheel, a

awl and ratchet to hold the lever, a second ever to release the pawl, asecond segment on said lever and arranged parallel with and near to thefirst named segment, one of said segments being concave and the otherbeing convex, whereby the segments are distinguished.

a steering post, a

steeringwheel on the post,

post, aratchet on the bracket, levers pivoted to the bracket, a pawl. onone of said levers and en aging the ratchet, a segment on the movab eend of the levers and near the rim of the wheel, a lever pivoted to thesaid first named levers and having an arm to engage and release thepawl, and a segment on. said lever and arranged near the first namedsegment and parallel therewit 5. In an automobile, a steering wheel, alongitudinally movable rod, a pedal operated lev'erslidahly connected tosaid rod and rigidly engaging the rod to move the same, a pawl andratchet to hold said lever, a brake edal, means for releasing said pawlwhen the brake pedal is-operated, a manually operated lever near thesteering wheel, a pawl and ratchet to hold said lever, a lever slidablyconnected with the rod and engaging a stop onthe rod to move therod, anda second 'manually operated lever near the steering Wheel to release thelast named pawl.

In testimony whereof I aflix' my signature in presence of two witnesses.

OTTO a Witnesses PALMER A. JONES, LUTHER V. MOULTEN.

